I just recently discovered Mckenna. He was quite the shaman and guru in the 70's and 80's. My Uncle (Masters in Theology) says "He only makes sense on acid. Don't recommend it."However, I do find his ideas and speakings to be captivating and good for a sense of 'mental masturbation' and a way of thinking differently or outside the box. His extremist views and very 'out-there' theories are what sort of turn me off from him. Also...I would party with the guy in that video.

I consider myself an artist. Yet every time I hear someone say that line, or something similiar, i despise them. I think much of this problem that is highlighted in this thread lies within this.

I am a young man from Norway, or a european if you will, and I can relate to people declining the western civilization. I see how American trends completely swallows us whole. People around me in this city's got that "the south will rise again!"-flag in their homes, they wear bandanas that have the US-flag on them, they dress up like housewives straight out of Mad Men, they wear rockabilly-uniforms etc. Even I make music that is heavily inspired by American music. At the same time, in some ways, I am a hypocrite. I tend to make excuses when people say that we sound like an American band and ask myself later on why the fuck I do that. Then all these existential questions comes lurking at the back of my throat. Insecurity, I guess.When I talk with foreigners I speak with a heavy american accent. It's all stupid. It frustrates me, and thus drives me forth to try and make something unique that stands alone in it's own universe, without any direct links to any nationality, language, culture and so forth. But it will always end up sounding like something I've been inspired by, and so the snake bites it's own tail. All the paradoxes that is lined up in my head about society makes me want to just finally and completely give up. Where does one draw the line between making simply good music, and making music that comes straight from your inner depths and shrines?

I believe unconfused when he says that many people today are bored. I do believe many people don't know what, who, why they are. They're blank sheets of paper, suddenly realising they need an identity, and so they build one, and some use the bricks that so-called alternative medias serve them. So they become yet another brick in that hipster- hiphop- metal- or whatever wall. But then again, it's all relative and my perspective is as true as any others.. or is it? Aren't we all going for that one goal to make the world a better place? Even Hitler had good intentions, but it was his perspective of it all. So many systems and so many ways to figure them out.

It struck me as I walked outside today, crossing the road. A woman in a car honked manically at me, and I stopped for a second as a instinctive reflex. Was it fear? Would that woman honk if she knew me? And if I did not think at all in that moment, and was not lost in my thoughts as I usually am, and I were totally present, would I stop for that little second? Would I be afraid? There is some kind of pollution that clouds everything.. minds and intentions. I am not used to writing long passages while trying to make a point.. I might have lost myself in here somewhere, yet I stand by it.

I kindly doubt it. That's one of those things I've tried to let sink in to me. I've spent quite a bit of my ephebic little life hating people. Hating them for having different values, which they (I'm sure) felt were superior to mine. The irony of this was entirely lost on me. I still often think I'm the only one that exists, in a very shallow sense. I wake up and go about my day, without a second thought for others. We're hardwired to see ourselves as infinitely important. Every bit of our experience has reinforced this notion. I too often care only about my own desires and fears, and neglect to remember that everyone else has similar ones themselves. Doesn't it make you feel less alone, then, knowing there are others who are able to feel, think, and empathize with you, just as you could with them?

"A human being is part of a whole, called by us the 'Universe', a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separated from the rest -- a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty." - Albert Einstein

Since we are all one, the collective individuality lives inside you. So if you think about it, it's not too surprising we all seem to imitate each other if we all are each other.

This post is not part of the discussion here, so bear with me and.. sorry for that but I did not want to open a special thread for my suggestion:

The forum gets a lot of spam lately, so much that all the "normal" threads get buried within miles of trash. Is there a possibility that someone of us could get "special administrative rights" to delete these spam threads while Grails are on tour/busy with real life?

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